Lindsay Gets a Mate

I haven't written much about Lindsay Buckingfish lately. His mate, Stevie Fishnick, died a few weeks ago. I tried moving Lindsay back into the community tank where he first lived but the male angelfish were extremely territorial and I was concerned for Lindsay's safety.

So Lindsay has been in the breeding tank all by his lonesome.

Last week, I learned from my friendly neighborhood pet shop, Carroll's Pets, that they had received a nice, large shipment of angelfish. The co-owner, Shelli, and I spent some time selecting what we think is a female.

We looked for:

(1) A head that slopes, versus one that rises sharply. Male angelfish get a bump on the top of their heads as they age; females do not.

(2) An angelfish remaining toward the back of the tank. Males tend to be more assertive and come to the front while females are content in the background.

(3) An angelfish that is not assertive when feeding. Females tend to allow the males to assertively rush to the top to eat.

(4) An angelfish without the barbs in the ventrals. Males have a barb that becomes more pronounced as they age; females do not.

The only surefire way to identify a female is when they mate, so we won't know for certain that I have a female for Lindsay until that time.

Here is Stevie Fishnick in the bag as it gets acclimated to the temperature. She is a red-eyed spangle. Lindsay's prior mates were both platinum angels, which looked identical to the new one except for the red eyes.